Quite astonishing for about 45 reasons, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is a film that also took me 45 years to bother to see. Whilst I admired the over-all production especially the art direction and the photography, I found the convoluted and quite bewildering story presentation tedious and ultimately irritating. There are many absolutely gloriously spectacular scenes both in Utah and with the train; the created sets/houses/town etc are genuinely visually fascinating and stunning to enjoy and make you reach further into the movie. I liked the main casting, even enjoying Fonda doing Eastwood. You can see how Bronson became a superstar after this. Some soaring magnificent orchestrations and endlessly beautiful scenes... but oh, that slow pace really did get to me. An irritating magnificent western masterpiece. Probably what Cimino was aiming for with HEAVENS GATE but overspent. This superb production came in for about $6m and looks every well spent dollar of it. Bravo! Beautiful.... Boring.
Review of Once Upon a Time in the West
